Page 19 of Maximus

“We’ve never had a vacation,” Liam continued, and deep lines appeared on Eva’s forehead.

“I know, honey. From now on, we’ll try to have one cool adventure a year.”

Fucking hell. The sadness in her voice was unmistakable, but so was the determination. Eva wanted to give her boys a better life. And for some unknown, crazy reason, I wished I could help her do that.

“Eli, honey, would you like another drink?” Eva asked, drawing my attention to the younger boy.

He was painfully shy and barely spoke. If he wanted or needed something, he tapped Eva and gestured. The times he did speak were quiet and meek.

The kid just turned four so I had no idea if that was normal or not. But I didn’t think it was. I’d seen plenty of little kids in passing that were loud and boisterous.

The boy shook his head in the negative and I racked my brain for something to talk to him about.

“Did you like the trains, Elijah?”

He just stared at me with apprehension and fear. It was the fear that gutted me.

“Eli, Max asked you a question,” Eva prompted.

“Yeah,” Elijah muttered.

Damn. What now?

“What was your favorite part?” Eva smoothly interjected and I shot her a grateful smile.

She didn’t return the gesture, but her lips did curve up ever so slightly.

I bet she’s prettier when the worry isn’t weighing her down.

“I liked the room with the toy trains the best. The one with the bridges,” Elijah quietly responded.

“Yeah? I liked that one, too,” I told him. “Do you remember how many cars were on the track?”

Elijah shook his head and Liam blurted out the answer, “There were five.”

“There’s another museum right up the road. Would you like to go look around?” I asked.

“Are you going there?” Liam inquired.

“Yep.”

“Mommy, can we go, too?”

Eva glanced at me, her head tilted to the side, probably trying to figure out what I was up to.

Good luck with that, sweetheart. I didn’t even understand what I was doing. Though in my mind, I did make the excuse that it was just past lunch and there was plenty of time before we went back to the hotel for her boys to get comfortable around me.

“Sure, honey, if you want to.” Then Eva looked to Elijah. “Would that be okay with you?”

Elijah nodded, then cuddled into his mother’s side. Eva’s arm automatically went around the boy and she kissed the top of his head.

“I’m just gonna take the boys to the bathroom to clean up, then we’ll be ready to leave.”

Eva and the kids stood and made their way across the restaurant. Thankfully, the bathrooms were within eyesight because I wasn’t sure how I’d explain to Liam if he saw me waiting outside the door. And the kid would notice. He watched everything, his eyes always busy, taking in his surroundings.

I pulled out my phone, sent a quick text back to Brooks, then tapped one out to Tex.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when my phone vibrated with an incoming call.